VAR'ADIEL

The 48th day of the moon of Harvest's End. Year 1458 of the Age of Stagnation.

The Alyar High King frowned at his unseen companion's words. "It's not made of Light? You keep repeating them. What do those words mean?"

-Apparently not.- A voiceless hiss made itself aware in Var'adiel's mind. -Chains. I see chains run through all of Tavran. They pull the flow from the ebon spires, the World Engines, and the Scale of Souls. And it all feeds back into Ironcourt. A pressure is building underneath the city. Something there, underneath the city. Draws all that vast flow into one place.-

"I made myself clear." Var'adiel reminded himself to his disembodied companion. "We do not harm the humans. It would shatter any order left on this continent. We can not have the heart of the Empire be crippled."

-I believe it is not a pressure that will exert itself on the mundane.- The previous elder's voice a hoarse hiss. Little remained of the woman Var'adiel had learned her to be. It was a given, considering the time she had spent chained from existence.

"You believe." Var'adiel mumbled, concerned. "And if your assumptions hold true, what plane will it exert its influence upon?"

-None that would concern us.- Her answer sounded impatient, rash.

Var'adiel fell silent. He was fed up with her blunt attitude. A part of him still fought against her ideas. How could he not be Alyar? It was widely accepted Light had wrought all that existed. The Shadow only governed the awakened ones, and the demons born from their wills.

Humans were the only other unfortunate race to have fallen under the sway of Shadow due to their strong hearts. Yet they were not of Shadow, its will had not spawned them. How could he be a part of another race of shadow-beings? Different from the malign gloom that threatened to burn all in its path.

Yet he knew it was the truth. Had known it for thousands of years by now. With every fibre of his being he had come to know the feeling of living in a false shell.

"It would be pointless to ask if there is an alternative path." He mumbled, not really addressing his companion.

-Alyar poison.- Her only reply.

He hated this retort. There was plenty to blame on those who enslaved his kin. Yet to carry such unending hate against the descendants of the enslavers seemed folly in Var'adiel's mind. None among them even remembered this. This was not a sin committed a few generations past. This was of a time that had disappeared from all memory.

What annoyed him most about those words was that he had called himself and still did call himself an Alyar. And he did so with pride.

He knew the previous elder of the Comforting Shade was growing restless, as was Var'adiel himself. An Age they had committed to their plans. Patience was still a virtue.

He eyed the Verdant Dominion capital, his home. Verdant Rest was a sprawling skein of roots and greenery. If they failed now... No, if the two of them would stop now, nothing would change, all would remain as it had been. No harm would come to his home and its inhabitants. If they failed in the year to come, all these lives would be at risk.

-It reeks!- Var'adiel had to endure her raging hiss. -You fail to see the rot underneath this visage.-

"An apt use of words, suited to this Age of Stagnation." He sighed.

-We hold the key to bring about a new one.- She reminded him. -The time is ripe to draw the heir from the void. You promised me the negotiations would not fail!-

"And they will not." Var'adiel grunted with a displeased voice. "Have confidence in those I sent to Ironcourt, confidence in me!"

-Then, are you ready? It will take both of us to do it.- She demanded with a fierce voice.

"Those chains you see, what are they?" Var'adiel asked after a moment of pondering.

-Stop stalling!- An ever more violent hiss rattled Var'adiel's mind.

Var'adiel ignored her furious outburst and focused on the evening goings on in the city below him. He leaned on the knotted bark of the roots that made up this balcony. She could rage all she wanted, he held the reins. He was the one she had chosen.

In truth, she was not the elder of the Comforting Shade any longer. That title belonged to Var'adiel now. And soon all would know him and his people, reborn in their true nature.

-Flow wrought. Merely flow. That takes on the shape of chains. That is all I see.-

"Very well!" Var'adiel straightened himself and turned around. He marched into the interior of the palace tree and took his place on the arcane nexus carved into the wooden floor. Soon, all would know of the crimes the Alyar had committed.

-Yes! That is how a Dolyar should be in nature. We value our hearts!- Her sudden growl startled him.

One last trace of uncertainty still rattled him. After all these years, she had not shared her name with him. And without knowing it he had little guarantees that she was not an abomination born of sin.

The thought was swiftly discarded. Their souls were of the same nature, after all. And before he had spared any thought of what else may be born from his actions, he and she had poured their flow into the nexus beneath their feet.

Power struck back at him as he had never felt it before. He should have been wailing in agony as it tore him to pieces. Instead, an ocean of raw flow was at the command of his thoughts. It was bliss. He now understood all that humans had written of their experiences wielding the flow.

For Alyar, the flow was a constant part of them, as common and emotionless as breathing. With satisfaction, he sensed their successful breach into the void and his mind became aware of countless souls in eternal slumber.

-NO!- A shriek rattled Var'adiel's mind, and the power was torn from his grasp. He watched in horror as the shaded visage of his disembodied companion coalesced onto the nexus. While in his own mind, he became aware of a gigantic flower made of flow, opening its blossom over a great city far to the north-east. All must witness it's blossoming.

-It blossoms!- She shrieked. -The chains were its roots! I must fix this! Take the path, take it to Ironcourt. You must watch over all that will occur there!- The shade was shivering, even this shrouded blob conveying absolute terror.

"What happened? We agreed to use the path to reach the heir to the void, to retrieve him from the ruins of Iordur!"

-I will ensure his survival! I will go to him. You watch over Ironcourt! I notified Kar'ath in the palace below and Joa'na in Ironcourt! I will return to you once I have recuperated!-

"What happened?" Var'adiel roared, refusing to release his grip on the previous elder's soul.

-The Other One has returned! His seal broke!-

"How?!" His roar was filled with panic.

-Brother. All of the...- Her shriek was cut short.

Despite his efforts, something else was now tugging at the soul of the previous elder. Before Var'adiel was able to gather his power for a stronger effort, she was gone. He was vaguely aware of her faint presence somewhere far in the north, where the last working World Engine should have been.

In a panic, Var'adiel erased part of the nexus and poured his flow into it once again. A narrow, dark rent opened in front of him. He could not hesitate. Even as he saw it widen, he was aware of how fragile it was, a feeble assault on the Path of the Other One.

It would be enough for one soul, as the two of them had suspected. And this invasive method would not create a breach the second time. For the path was alive and now knew to defend against it. Var'adiel rushed into the rent.

The next moment he stumbled into a clearing surrounded by forest. All was dark and silent around him. Ahead of him the forest thinned, and beyond the trees he could guess a gathering of lights in a valley below. Ironcourt was less than a day's travel below him.